Free Joint Status Report - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:05-cv-00400-FMA

Document 35

Filed 06/30/2006

Page 1 of 4

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS MICHAEL W. STOVALL, Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 05-400C Judge Allegra

JOINT STATUS REPORT On June 2, 2006, the Court issued an order denying the Government's motion to dismiss. In that order, the Court also required the parties to submit "on or before June 30, 2006" a "joint status report indicating how this case should proceed, with a proposed schedule if applicable." Accordingly, the parties respectfully submit this joint status report in which they inform the Court of their recommendation upon how they would like to proceed. On May 31, 2006, the parties met and discussed the possibility of utilizing an Alternate Disputes Resolution ("ADR") method to resolve this matter. To that end, the parties agreed to an informal process in which the issues of the case could be discussed with the goal of resolving or narrowing the issues. Furthermore, during its initial review of the substantive allegations set forth in Mr. Stovall's complaint, the Government determined that it would require some additional information from Mr. Stovall before it could make informed decisions regarding certain issues in this case. To that end, Mr. Stovall's counsel agreed to provide the Government with the requested information, and is currently in the process of gathering this information. Mr. Stovall's counsel has informed the Government that he expects to provide this information to the defendant by July 7, 2006. Accordingly, once the Government is able to evaluate this

Case 1:05-cv-00400-FMA

Document 35

Filed 06/30/2006

Page 2 of 4

information, the United States will be in a better position to inform the Court if it plans to ask the Court to assign the case to an ADR judge or whether formal discovery is needed before that decision can be made. Accordingly, for the reasons stated above, the Government and Mr. Stovall respectfully request that the Court stay this matter for another 31 days, up to and including Monday, July 31, 2006, for the parties to continue to work within the established informal process. At that time, the parties believe they will be able to inform the Court of their intentions regarding how this case should be proceed, to include, whether the parties will submit a formal request to the Court to have an ADR judge assigned to this matter. Respectfully submitted, PETER D. KEISLER Assistant Attorney General DAVID M. COHEN Director

s/Deborah A. Bynum DEBORAH A. BYNUM Assistant Director

2

Case 1:05-cv-00400-FMA

Document 35

Filed 06/30/2006

Page 3 of 4

s/James W. Myart, Jr. JAMES W. MYART, JR., P.C. The Preston House 1104 Denver Blvd, Suite 300 San Antonio, Texas 78210

s/Douglas K. Mickle DOUGLAS K. MICKLE Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division Department of Justice 1100 L Street, N.W. Attn: Classification Unit, 8th Floor Washington, D.C. 20530 Tele: (202) 307-0383 Fax: (202) 353-7988 OF COUNSEL: RICK GIBSON Office of the General Counsel United States Department of Agriculture Washington, D.C.

June 30, 2006

Attorneys for Defendant

3

Case 1:05-cv-00400-FMA

Document 35

Filed 06/30/2006

Page 4 of 4

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify under penalty of perjury that on June 30, 2006, a copy of the foregoing "JOINT STATUS REPORT" was filed electronically. I understand that notice of this filing will be sent to all parties by operation of the Court's electronic filing system. Parties may access this filing through the Court's system.

s/Douglas K. Mickle Douglas K. Mickle